consumed excessive amounts of alcohol with his mates then drove them home. He got away with it until the night the police picked him up. When Eloise brought him home from the station he curled up on his bed and cried. 'Look at me, Mum,' he said. 'Just look at me. I'm a useless piece
of junk.' 'You're a lot of things, Jonno, but you're not that.' 'I am, Mum. I am. Can't you see I'm a waste of space?' 'Don't say that. Please, Jonno. Don't say that.' 'I know I said I'd never kill myself but if you really loved me, I
mean really loved me, you'd let me go. I want the pain to be over, Mum. I can't do this anymore. It's too hard.' Worried about what might happen if she left him alone, Eloise
tucked the sobbing Jonno into bed then climbed in beside him. She held him tightly just as she did when he'd had bad dreams as a boy. She waited until his crying stopped then crept back to her own bed. As silent tears slid down her cheeks she wondered when this nightmare would end for them both. The celebrant's voice brings Eloise back. Your pain is over,
Jonno, she thinks. You have found peace at last. Eloise clicks her camera furiously. She captures Jonno kissing
his bride as the rainbows dance above them on the chapel wall. Mave Drybrugh
about the author Mave Drybrugh lives in Dunedin. She has previously published
educational readers for children and adult fiction for magazines. She enjoys playing the piano for choirs and productions, loves reading, knitting, movies, drinking coffee and plays very bad golf!
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